Bitten
by Sedentary Wordsmith
Summary: Light and Matsuda can't help but wonder why L holds everything so peculiarly, but the explanation he gives doesn't help things much.


This fic…came out just a bit more crackish than I intended

This fic…came out just a bit more crackish than I intended. But the characters were already that way when I found them, I swear!

So, Light, no more crack for you. (Don't give me that look! I know you were on it when you came up with that whole "god of the new world" thing!)

Oh, I was almost forgetting. If you don't know the "real" reason (according to Takeshi Obata) why L holds everything like he does, it's in _How to Read_, page 118. If you don't have _How to Read_, or access to a bookstore, go to my profile under the bold "Bitten" to find the link to where I explain it. Or just follow this same link right here: daethule(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)18639(dot)html

Summary: Light and Matsuda can't help but wonder why L holds everything so peculiarly, but the explanation he gives doesn't help things much.

**Bitten**

Light watched from the corner of his eye as L looked through the papers in a file, picking up each one individually with the tip of his thumb and forefinger and scanning it over before daintily setting it aside.

Page after page, it was the same. Gingerly taken by the corner with those two digits, the other three suspended uselessly in the air, then tenderly set down to the side. Carefully. With only two fingers.

_'Maybe he's just really afraid of getting a paper cut,'_ Light reasoned to himself. _'Pansy.'_

Then L reached to the side and picked up his teacup, holding it delicately with only those two fingers. Light frowned. _'Not a paper cut there…Afraid of being burned? What a scaredy-cat.'_

L sipped his tea-flavored sugar and gently set the cup back on its saucer, returning to his file. Page by page. Thumb and forefinger.

A few minutes later, Light was still watching from the corner of his eye as L turned to the sweet-laden cart next to him and selected a plate with a slice of cake on it. Light observed how L carefully held the end of the stem of his fork with only his thumb and forefinger.

_'No possibility of paper cuts or burns here…And the sharp end of the fork is at the other end…Hmm…Perhaps he simply has hypersensitivity in his fingers? Ha, what a loser. Wait, could this be an important clue to L's true identity? Hmm…'_

L seemed oblivious that he was being stared at by the boy only three feet away from him. He also seemed unaware that his little quirks were rapidly on their way to making said boy go completely mad.

_'No! Why am I even thinking about this? I shouldn't be thinking about this. There's no way I'll ever figure out his true name just by the way he holds things…that annoying way…Unless I could find an article in some old newspaper about a man who holds things strangely—No! What am I thinking? It's obvious he's just doing this to test me._

_'Yes, that's it! He's doing it to see if I'm Kira or not. He knows that Kira has the type of personality that would never tolerate such inane behavior, so if I comment on it, that means I'm Kira. So if I don't say anything, that means I'm not Kira. _

_'But I am a genius, and L knows that I am a genius, so he would expect me to figure this out, and therefore not say anything to avoid suspicion. So I will do the less suspicious thing and just ask him about it!_

_'But L is also a genius, so he knows that I will have figured out his plan and thought this far ahead, so I cannot say anything. So just to outwit him, I will ask about it! He will not see it coming! It will also prove that I am not Kira._

_'…Look at him just sitting there, so smug, eating his dainty little cake with his dainty little fork…He doesn't know that I have him all figured out! I'm just going to ask him, right now—'_ Light opened his mouth.

"Hey, Ryuzaki, why do you always hold things like that?"

Light closed his mouth. That wasn't his voice. He spun his chair around to face the rest of the room, quickly locating Matsuda, who was looking at L. Apparently, Light had been so intent on his own staring, he had failed to realize that someone else was thinking the same thing.

_'So, Matsuda, you beat me to the question. A brilliant move. So _you're_ really Kira, are you? …No, wait…'_

"Hmm?" L questioned, also spinning around. His mouth was full of cake and he had his fork in one hand and a paper in the other, both only held with two fingers. He swallowed. "Like what?"

"You know…like that." Matsuda vaguely gestured towards L's hands. When the detective only returned a blank stare, Matsuda copied his hand position by grasping air with his thumb and forefinger.

L briefly looked down at his hands, then back up at Matsuda. "I see nothing unusual."

Matsuda faltered. "Oh…well…I was just wondering. Because you hold everything like it will either bite you or burn you."

"Ah. I see." L nodded sagely. "That is because the last thing I held with all my fingers did."

By this time, every investigator in the room was captivated by the strange conversation.

"It did?" Matsuda repeated, eyes wide. "It did what? Bite? Or burn?"

"Yes."

"Yes? Which one?"

"Both."

"Both?" Matsuda's eyes only got rounder.

"Yes, both. It also pinched me then proceeded to slice my finger open." He wiggled his right pinky for emphasis.

The others were dumbfounded. "Bitten, burned, pinched, _and_ sliced?" Matsuda repeated faintly.

"Indeed. Please excuse me for a moment, gentlemen." L rose from his chair and slouched from the room. Watari was waiting for him on the other side of the door. His wrinkled face was gently reproving, but his eyes were dancing with amusement.

"I do not remember such an instance occurring in the years I have known you."

L only shrugged and continued walking, though a small smile tugged on the corner of his lip. "It is only what he deserves for asking such a question. Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." He brought a finger to his chin as his eyes rolled upward in thought. "Though, if Yagami-kun had asked it…"

Back inside the room, Light was similarly stroking his chin. _'I wonder if I can use this to find out L's true name…'_


End file.
